How can Blockchain be helpful in tracking Covid Vaccines?

Rashmeet Kaur
Nerd For Tech
Published in
4 min readFeb 16, 2022

News regarding successful trials to people getting shots of vaccines has been bringing relief to people across the globe. But, we can not deny the fact that covid vaccines might not be effective if governments do not distribute them appropriately. Also, for successful adoption, people need to trust the vaccine sources. However, in the current healthcare sector, maintaining a high level of transparency is not possible as there’s a lack of such advanced systems. Blockchain development in this scenario can act as a needed solution here. In fact, we need robust blockchain technology training programs to leverage its applications in the procedure of vaccine distribution.

How can Blockchain be helpful in tracking Covid Vaccines?

Table of contents

  • What are the needs for a proper vaccine distribution system?
  • How can blockchain development in this sector be helpful?
  • How can blockchain-based vaccination ID or certificate work?
  • Closing Thoughts

What are the needs for a proper vaccine distribution system?

An appropriate vaccine distribution system needs to fulfill the following aspects:

  • Use of computerized immunization data framework to maintain accuracy.
  • Special efforts should be made to assure and secure the personal information of people.
  • Next, for the sudden emergence of unexpected situations, an alternate identity verification system must be available.
  • The system must be very specific about recording only data on vaccine verification and not any other unnecessary information. For example, it should avoid adding data on a person’s past tests and results. Hence it will eradicate clustering of data that are not needed.
  • Further, the system should be accessible to users in real-time. It will be helpful to people who travel between states and countries frequently.

How can blockchain development in this sector be helpful?

According to the global blockchain expert team, the technology can fulfill the requirements of an efficient vaccine verification system. Due to the blockchain’s features of data encryption and decentralization, data storage over its ledger gets extreme security. In fact, it is nearly impossible to tamper with any data record that a blockchain network adds to its ledger. Hence, no need to say that it seems like a perfect solution to protect peoples’ personal data.

With proper blockchain technology training tech department of healthcare, authorities can store vaccine shipment data on the blockchain. Further, the public ledger can record each package depending on its serial number and other important data. This way, scanning, and authenticating goods will become more accessible at any stage of the supply chain.

For understanding the underlying mechanism of how blockchain technology processes information sharing and data storage take up blockchain technology training.

One of the available examples of a blockchain-based architecture for the covid vaccine distribution is VacciFi. The solution offers covid vaccination passports to people to smooth out their verification process.

How can blockchain-based vaccination ID or certificate work?

In a scenario where a person is travelling between different destinations, blockchain vaccination ID will be incredibly helpful to them. Here, unvaccinated persons will need to register their details under nearby health administration for vaccination. And once they receive their vaccination ID, they can visit the respective clinic or hospital to get their vaccination done. During their hospital visit, the reception will record all essential data about the person — for example, the name of the traveler, contact and passport numbers, and others.

However, all this information will have off-chain storage under the public data protection regulations and compliance. Here, the hospital can store information in two forms:

  • The number of the passport and hash number generated from the vaccination ID.
  • Administered vaccine dose date.

Now, organizations can combine blockchain with another efficient technology known as QR code. With just a scan, travel officials will be able to check the vaccination status of the traveler in real-time.

However, note that blockchain technology will not be able to address issues regarding equity and inclusivity of vaccine verification frameworks. But, it can surely help global health care departments that want to conduct a safe system while being able to maintain real-time access to information.

Closing Thoughts

Blockchain can empower a vaccine distribution network across the global spectrum. Further, it can also help vaccine manufacturers to monitor processes of vaccine distribution and detect any issue beforehand. Aside from this, distributors can also acquire real-time visibility and be readily available to address disruptions in the supply chain. Hence, consistent updates around vaccination supplies will enable better inventory management and monitoring. Also, it will build trust between vaccine manufacturers and distributors with general people. Hence we can say that blockchain is an effective solution for some of the major issues in the space of vaccine distribution systems.

Join the BLOCKCHAIN COUNCIL and get expert insights on the blockchain learn about its concepts, networks, applications, and many more. You can leverage blockchain-based certifications that the platform provides to interested learners.

--

--

Rashmeet Kaur
Nerd For Tech

Result-oriented Technology expert with good experience in education & technology roles.